224 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Maj 



very element in which the ehie-f value of animal 

 manure consists. Indeed, European farmers are 

 using rape seed and oil cake as a manure, because 

 they are rich in this element. The peculiar value 

 of animal manures, I take it, consists in the nitro- 

 gen they contain. Their mineral elements are in- 

 deed vaiuahle. But these may be obtained at a 

 cheaper rate, from other sources. 



I have not time, had I the ability, nor will you 

 give me space, Mr. Editor, to go more fully into 

 this copious subject ; and I will close by saying 

 that just in proportion as friend B. can make his 

 farm furnish nutriment to his animals to such an 

 extent, that ihfy shall aif jrd nutriment to succes- 

 sive/i/ increasing crops, will it prove a "mine ofj 

 wealth" to him. But if he has to raise one crop 

 to feed his animals, and another to feed his crops, 

 he had better dig in some other mine. 



In order that land may maintain itself at a high 

 degree of productiveness, it must yield abundant, 

 nay luxuriant crops. It is only such crops that 

 can return to it the "fertilizing matter" necessary 

 to keep it at the maximum point of fertility. This 

 I suppose fo be tl e standard at which every flirm- 

 er should aim, and just in proportion as he ap- 

 proaches it, will his farm prove to him a mine of 

 wealth. Permit me to add a short extract or two 

 from Stockhardt's Field Lectures, a book which 

 I should be glad to see in the hands of every 

 farmer who would understand the principles of 

 chemical science, as they apply to the processes 

 of agriculture. 



"There are probably few farms on which natural 

 manure is produced in such plentiful quantity as 

 to suffice for perfectly manuring their surface. 

 As long as a farm has not reached the highest point 

 of cultivation, every means must be pronounced 

 acceptable, which puts the farmer in a position to 

 provide his fields with more liberal dressing than 

 he is able to give them from his own supply of 

 home produced natural manure. Whoever seeks 

 to arrive quickly at this state of cultivation, must 

 make extensive use of those auxiliary or artificial 

 manures, that are now offered him by commerce. 

 For if by the agency of artificial manares, fields 

 are speedily brought into a state of greater pro- 

 ductiveness, more straw and fodder will also be pro- 

 duced ; and by their assistance the stock can be so in- 

 creased and the supply af natural manure so enlarged, 

 that the importation of artificial manures is no long- 

 er necessary.''^ j. r. 



For the New En^lamd Farmer. 

 GRAFTING ON THE THORN. 



BY C. GOODRICH. 



I have lately seen an article in your paper re- 

 commending the common New England thorn tree, 

 as stocks for pears. As the writer merely gives it 

 as a matter of opinion, rather than experience, it 

 )nay lead many to try experiments where disap- 

 pointments are sure to follow. 



The whole family of thorns. Mountain Ash, and 

 ShadbeiTy, I believe will generally prove worth- 

 less for dwarf pears ; they may occasionally suc- 

 ceed, but each one grown will cost the owner more 

 tiian a dozen good trees on pear stocks. 



Some fifteen years since, I procured two or three 

 dozen thorn trees, planted them with care, and 

 the next season grafted with pears ; about one-half 



grew, which had a sickly existence a h\f years 

 and died. 



My nest experiment was with Shadberry, with 

 no better success. In 1851, I planted 5G Moun- 

 tain Ash trees — averaging 1^ inches in diameter — 

 and grafted near the ground with some eight vari- 

 eties of pears. All grew very finely, but in Sep- 

 tember, they began to appear sickly, which so in- 

 creased, that in 1852 all were dug out and thrown 

 away. I last year purchased the largest nursery 

 on the east side of Like Champlain, some twenty 

 miles from Burlington. Among the stock were 

 twenty thousand pear seedlings and some thou- 

 sands of grafted trees of ail ages and sizes. I no- 

 ticed a number of sciraggy thorns, and on inquiry 

 the intelligent owner told me he had f )r ten years 

 tried to raise pear trees on thorn stocks, had tried 

 more than one hundred, but had not succeeded in 

 raising but one tree, which he showed me. This- 

 had a sickly growth ; I transferred it to my garden 

 last spring but it has gone the way of all others. 



On large vigorous trees, and grafted in the tops-, 

 pears will grow well on the 1 horn, Mountain Ash, 

 or Shadberry, for a few years. I once- grafted a 

 thorn tree of this character, and the fourth year 

 picked four bushels of pears from it. All large- 

 trees of this class, in rich soils, are valuable for 

 grafting with thepear — but for "dwarfs," or stand- 

 ards, grafted when young, thorn stocks generally^ 

 are worse than useless. The Mountain Ash and 

 Shadberry, I think of the same general character 

 as the thorn — but have not seen experiments 

 enough to give an opinion of their value for stocks 

 for pears. 



It is said that the pear will graft wel} on the 

 apple, but "outgrows" it. This is all a mistake. 

 The sap flows freely from the apple to the pear 

 and produces a vigorous growth, but not return- 

 ing freely, the apple stock is dwarfed. If one wisli- 

 es to try the experiment, he will find, by grafting 

 apples and pears on the same tree, that although 

 the pears at first will outgrow the apples, the 

 limbs on which apples are grafted will grow four 

 times as fast as those grafted with pears. But few 

 varieties of pears will grow on apple stocks. I have 

 tried many sorts, but never had much success with 

 but one. The T)ld Summer Bon Chretien, (Good 

 Christian,) a very irregular scraggy grower, grows 

 as readily on the apple, as pear stocks, and bears 

 well a few years on old trees, or until the limbs on 

 which they are grafted become too much dwarfed. 



If any one can give any successful experiments 

 of raising trees on thorn stocks, I shall be glad to- 

 see them ; but until I see practical demonstration, 

 will caution all of depending on the thorn as a 

 stock for pears. 



Burlington, Vt. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 A QUESTION FOR 'THE CURIOUS, 



Sir: — I have a small pear tree in my garden, 

 which the last season bure fruit of good qualityj 

 but not pears, although nourished and matui'ed by 

 the sap of the tree, and on the wood produced by 

 the pear gr;i.ft or bud, nor were there pears in any 

 part of the tree which came to maturity, what 

 fruit was it ? Horticulturist. 



Groton, 1853. 



Reji.\rks. — Well, we rather guess 'twas a pear ? 



